Stealing Heavenly Secrets

Though his mouth kept modestly saying he was still far from good enough, in actual practice, he had already defeated every teacher and student in the boxing gym.

That included two professional fighters.

Just as he was feeling proud and satisfied, Ye Fan's appearance directly tore apart the "invincible" belief he had painstakingly built up.

The two of them didn't spar, though.

When Ye Fan came to visit, Li Zhi led him into the private gym.

On the surface, Ye Fan didn't look as burly as Li Zhi, but Ye Fan could easily lift a four-hundred-kilogram barbell.

Li Zhi, straining with all his might, could barely manage a three-hundred-kilogram barbell.

Just in the deadlift alone.

The gap in pure strength between the two was very obvious.

It directly knocked Li Zhi, who had been feeling a bit full of himself, back down to the mortal world, making him realize the huge disparity between them.

He thought to himself, Ye Fan really lives up to being the Human Holy Body.

Just by practicing a breathing technique with little noticeable effect, his terrifying strength was already starting to show.

And this was the gap displayed before Ye Fan's Holy Body bloodline had even been activated.

Once Ye Fan's Holy Body bloodline was awakened, Li Zhi couldn't even imagine how vast the gap between them would become.

Li Zhi also concluded from this that he probably didn't have a special physique.

In the private gym, Li Zhi watched Ye Fan do five consecutive squats with the three-hundred-kilogram barbell he himself had barely managed to lift, and immediately felt a bit crushed.

"Brother Ye, you're really a monster. With strength like that, you could just enter any weightlifting competition, and the championship would be Easy to capture," Li Zhi said in amazement.

Ye Fan put the barbell back on the rack without much effort, rolled his shoulders a little, and said, "I owe it all to that breathing technique I got from you, Brother Li. I've been practicing it for over a year, and not only has my energy skyrocketed, but my strength has been growing too."

Seeing his own power surpass the world record, Ye Fan had once worried something was wrong with his body and went to the hospital for a thorough checkup.

After the results came out, his body had no issues—all indicators were completely normal.

Still uneasy, Ye Fan went to a Chinese medicine doctor for a full-body examination.

The Chinese medicine doctor told him his body was in excellent shape, a sign of abundant spirit and full qi, making him nearly immune to illness. The surging strength was just a side effect of his qi being full.

Then, noticing martial arts equipment in Li Zhi's gym, Ye Fan asked curiously, "Brother Li, you practice boxing?"

Li Zhi said, "I've been practicing that breathing technique too. My energy keeps getting stronger, and I only need four or five hours of sleep a day without feeling tired. So I picked up some fist and footwork to kill time."

Ye Fan's eyes lit up. "I'll go learn some fist and footwork myself sometime."

Having raw strength without refined techniques wouldn't make him very effective in a fight—Ye Fan understood that principle.

The two walked out of the gym and went straight to a pavilion in the yard. Ye Fan looked around at the scenery and said, "Brother Li, your place has a nice environment. It's suitable for a family to live in."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "If you like it here, once you've earned some money, buy a yard here too, and we can be neighbors."

Ye Fan said humbly, "The houses here are so expensive, how could I afford one?" But in his heart, he had already made a quiet decision: once he earned enough, he'd buy a yard here and bring his parents over to live with him.

Li Zhi smiled without speaking, thinking, "You'll be able to afford it soon enough."

Just then, Zhou Mei came over carrying two plates of tea and snacks.

Ye Fan took the snacks and said, "Thanks, sister-in-law."

Li Zhi said, "Mei'er, I'm going out with Brother Ye tomorrow. We'll probably be gone for ten days to half a month. If anything comes up at home, call me."

Zhou Mei smiled and said, "Go ahead. I've got things covered at home."

Li Zhi said, "Don't overwork yourself at home. Make sure to rest. If anything comes up, call Aunt Wang."

Zhou Mei said happily, "I know, I'm not a child."

Ye Fan was caught off guard by Li Zhi and Zhou Mei's open display of affection, and instantly the pastry in his mouth didn't taste sweet anymore.

At the same time, he thought of Li Xiaoman, who had already gone abroad.

In the end, the two of them hadn't been able to make it work—like most college couples, they broke up after graduation.

Then Zhou Mei asked Ye Fan, "Brother Ye, bring your girlfriend over to visit sometime."

Ye Fan snapped back to reality and laughed. "Sister Zhou, don't tease me. I don't have a girlfriend right now."

Zhou Mei said, "Brother Ye, you're handsome and accomplished at a young age. You won't have trouble finding a good girl. Want me to introduce a few to you?"

Ye Fan quickly shook his head. "No need, Sister Zhou. I just graduated and I'm in the middle of working hard. I don't want to get distracted by romance."

Zhou Mei said, "You're right. A man should focus on his career. Once you've made a name for yourself, good girls will flock to you."

Ye Fan smiled. "I hope your words come true, Sister."

After agreeing on the exact departure time with Li Zhi for the next day, Ye Fan left.

He really couldn't stand the way Li Zhi and Zhou Mei were all over each other—more clingy than a young couple.

Watching Ye Fan leave, Zhou Mei said to Li Zhi, "My husband, that little brother of yours is no ordinary man."

Li Zhi said, "Of course he's not. Why else would I bother making friends with him?"

Zhou Mei said, "Then you need to be careful. Every time I see Ye Fan, I get this faint, uneasy feeling in my heart. It's like if you get too close to him, I might suddenly lose you one day."

Li Zhi had to admire Zhou Mei's intuition.

He really would one day suddenly vanish from Zhou Mei's life without a trace.

If he kept cultivating on Earth, with his talent, he'd likely die of old age without achieving anything.

Only by hitching a ride on the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport to the Ancient Beidou Star, gaining fortune there, could his talent allow him to rise.

From the original story, it was clear that Ye Fan's classmates all achieved no small success in the future.

It couldn't be because of their exceptional physiques.

Li Zhi preferred to believe it was because their Bitter Sea was activated within the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone, which to some extent meant the Ruthless Great Emperor personally opened the Path of Cultivation for them.

Even if their innate talent was utterly ordinary, after receiving the Ruthless Great Emperor's blessings, they could possess very impressive Cultivation Talent.

Perhaps the only being in the world capable of this was the Ruthless Great Emperor, who had started as a Mortal Physique and struggled step by step to attain enlightenment.

Only she could wield such heaven-defying, earth-shattering methods of creation.

This was a world-shaking opportunity that countless people dreamed of but could never obtain, almost no less than taking a divine medicine for Foundation Establishment.

Maybe that was the real reason Ye Fan's classmates generally succeeded.

Otherwise, with their innate talent, the success rate couldn't have been that high.

On the Ancient Beidou Star, there were far too many people with innate talent superior to theirs, practically countless.

The next morning, At dawn, Li Zhi drove out alone.

This time, he and Ye Fan were driving to Jin Province.

According to Ye Fan's investigation, the group selling jade artifacts in the Ghost Market weren't locals—they were a tomb-raiding gang from Jin Province.

Ye Fan had also uncovered a key piece of information: those people had been selling ancient jade on the open market for three years, both intact and broken pieces.

At the same time, he'd found out that three years ago, they'd rented dozens of acres in a small place called Anyi in Southern Jin, building an enormous vegetable greenhouse complex.

They seemed like greenhouse farmers.

But after Ye Fan's deeper investigation, he realized things weren't that simple.

Their greenhouse vegetables had low annual yield and quality, barely turning a profit.

Yet in just three years, that whole crew had gotten rich.

Swapping cars, swapping houses, and even two of them swapping for younger, prettier wives.

After hearing Ye Fan's rundown, Li Zhi was curious how he'd dug up all this info.

Ye Fan said, "Actually, it's not as hard as you think. As long as you're willing to ask around, ordinary people in this world have almost no secrets."

Clearly, Ye Fan was brushing Li Zhi off.

He didn't want to tell Li Zhi how he got precise intel.

Li Zhi didn't press further—after all, this was Ye Fan's bread and butter.

After a day and a night of driving, they finally arrived in front of a remote vegetable greenhouse base.

Ye Fan pointed at the greenhouses and said, "Brother Li, that's the place. I suspect they built these greenhouses as a cover to throw people off. The real purpose is to hide their tomb-robbing operation here.

From what I've observed, they should have discovered a massive Marquis's tomb from the Qin-Han period and are excavating it archaeologically.

Otherwise, they couldn't have so many ancient artifact fragments. And they occasionally release relatively intact jade pieces and bronze ritual vessels."

Li Zhi scanned the surroundings, got a clear picture, and asked Ye Fan, "So, should we pose as buyers and go in to check things out?"

Ye Fan shook his head. "Those people are very cautious. They only let familiar buyers in and out of their greenhouses. Before the new year, when they were hiring, I tried to get in as a winter break worker, but they turned me down. Later I found out this vegetable base only hires people they know."

Seeing how thoroughly Ye Fan had prepared, Li Zhi asked, "What's your plan?"

Ye Fan said, "At night, they usually only have two people on guard, and they both have a habit of drinking. I think we can wait until they're drunk at night, then sneak in and take a look."

Li Zhi nodded with a smile. "Alright, let's do it your way."

He had far more experience in this area than Ye Fan.